Awen is Welsh for inspiration, the muse. This blog will record my explorations into poetry and fiction writing and my interests in Welsh/Celtic poetics and mythology.

Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Gwaith 16: Frost at Midday

Helo Pawb

This is just a quick post to show you more of the cold weather under a bright, blue clear sky that I am experiencing here in Corris.

Facing north, on the path running along the fields beside Afon Dulas

After my Tuesday morning Welsh Conversation meeting at the Corris Institute, I went for a walk along my favourite river, Afon Dulas. Even at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, frost still covered the nearby fields. The village is in a valley that runs roughly north-south, so the sun takes a while to climb above the pine-covered hill and start working on the frost. Even when it was visible, the temperature, courtesy of the cloudless sky overnight and during the day, was still low, so that as I walked, my breath plumed around me.

Sheep cropping through the frost-covered grass

Apart from the frost itself, highlights of this walk included seeing two grey squirrels prance away daintily at my approach; standing still in a field and listening to the irregular dripping of frostmelt from the bare branches of nearby oaks and beeches; and watching six F-15Es, possibly from RAF Lakenheath, roar over the hills and across the valley as they travelled the regular exercise route known as the Mach Loop. As if in defiance to their thunderous flights, after their third pass a red kite appeared above the same hill the jets flew over. At first I thought it was a distant plane, but no rumbling preceded it. The bird rose quickly on updrafts, then winged its way high across the valley. Not unlike the Tornadoes banking and producing contrails, at one point sunlight glinting from the edges of its wings, before it disappeared in the pine woods on the opposite hill.

2 comments:

Hi Earl. I love to see the frosty pictures from your walks. You are very lucky to be in such a beautiful place. Although the jets are spectacular, I think I'd much rather watch the red kites! I hope the book is coming along well. (We met when you stayed near Pitlochry)Kind regards, Stuart

Hi Stuart, Thanks for your appreciation of the blog. I do remember you from Pitlochry. The book is going slowly, yet steadily. I agree with you about the jets versus the red kite, though I haven't managed to capture one on film yet. All the best, Earl

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About Me

Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, I came to writing and poetry late, after careers and ambitions in mathematics, martial arts and music. I have had poetry and fiction published in journals and anthologies around Australia and also in Britain, Canada, the USA, and Germany. In 2005 I won the Melbourne Poets Union International Poetry Competition and I have been shortlisted in others, including the Blake Poetry Prize. I taught in a writing course at Box Hill Institute, Victoria, for 17 years and have completed a PhD in Creative Writing. Currently, I am working on my second collection of poetry and a Dark Ages novel. I live in Melbourne with my wife, Jo, and the seasonal owls, bats and lorikeets that love the trees around our home.